Grant McGregor

My work puts forward ideas of identity in a raw and blunt manner. Cutting away and abstracting elements. It is often curious to find what is pushed away in the underlying tones that this ‘cutting’ creates. And then what elements viewers will be drawn towards and almost recognise within their own appreciation and interpretation of the works.

There is a saying that I have always held in mind with every portrait I paint. It is that every portrait is a portrait of the Artist. In this series I have not only chosen to paint people that I am directly related too, but I’ve attempted to go beyond that relationship. Instead of painting them as I know them, with their ‘likeness’, I’ve instinctively approached each sitter and attempted to interpret them through my imagination. So perhaps, the best way to view my portraits is in the words of Jean Paul Sartre, “You are what you are not and not what you are”.